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To paraphrase the terrible Capital One credit card ads that are all over TV these days - "What's on YOUR rack?" I've been out climbing with a variety of people lately and observing what they carry, and have also been looking over my own rack thinking about streamlining it a bit. It was kind of surprising to me to realize just how much stuff I've been carrying around, and how old some of it is. What about you?

So here's a picture of my normal trad rack. what a real mess-o-stuff it is.

I use one of the old Metolius gear slings with the padded shoulder and 4 fixed plastic loops. Yes it does hand down and can be annoying on overhanging climbs, but I don't climb that hard any more, so it is rarely a problem. [wry grin]

Of course this doesn't include the 12 slings with 2 biners on each, 4-6 spare locking biners, 4 wire gate biners, 1 or 2 belay devices, 2 cordalettes with locking biners and nut tool. All these are spread over another sling and the gear loops of my harness. With clients I usually bring a GriGri as well, just to make belaying (and sometimes lowering) easier. Even with ultralight wiregate biners on Dyneema slings, all this stuff adds up to a hefty 16 pound. That's a lot of stuff to haul up a cliff, on top of my already overweight body!

So we've had 3 rainy days in a row, and I'm looking over all this stuff thinking what can I dump? Hmmm..... Well of course I can always try and suss out the route before I climb it and only take what I need. For something like the Saigons I only take slings, cordalette and a handful of gear, 'cause I pretty much can remember the gear I need. For Standard Route on Whitehorse I know I need to bring it all 'cause I'll probably use most of it at one point or another. You would think that there has to be something that I can more or less permanently dump, right? Occasionally I leave the blue Camelot off the rack when I know I don't need it, I can drop one of the double green Aliens the same way and I don't always use a GriGri since I have a Guide ATC that works OK when I 'm not on a long route with more than one client. I have a number of doubles of my stoppers, but they are so light it really doesn't matter. And besides there are just a lot of times when I need that extra #6 Rock. So all that saves a little weight, but I still want all the nuts, all the small and medium cams up to the gold Camelot, all 12 slings & biners, the spare lockers, the nut tool and cordaletts. [sigh]

So basically I'm still left with 13-14 pounds of gear whenever I'm out cragging trad. I see a few folks like Henry Barber out climbing with just the bare minimum of stuff, and here I feel as if I'm carrying a whole gear store around my neck. I have to wonder, am I just an old fuddy-duddy here? I guess it just goes with the territory, until the invent ultra-strong and ultra-light gear. Or maybe I should switch over to sport climbing, where all I have to carry are draws. Naaaah!

Ice Conditions Report:

Selected Ice Conditions effective February 26, 2015

Yet another great week of ice pretty much everywhere. Surprisingly we haven’t had any snow to speak of in the lower elevations, so the trails are packed out and it’s easy to get around. It would be nice if things warmed up a bit during the day to refresh the ice tho. Just be aware that things are getting a bit beat up and brittle. That said there is a lot of stuff to climb. Enjoy…

Bug Report:
Still holding at a BUGCON 3 right now. They are definitely out there & this 2 day rain even will likely kick them into a frenzy, so stay tuned.

Mobile Version Of NEClimbs:
Up on one of the Mount Washington Valley's finest crags and want to know what that climb you're looking at is? Or maybe you're on your way up from Boston and want to check out the Ice Report for your upcoming weekend plans. Or more likely, you're at work just want to daydream about your next adventure. Well if you have a smart phone handy, you can get to NEClimbs from anywhere you have cell service. While it doesn't offer every single feature of the site and it's not an "app", in mobile form, it does do a whole lot and is very useful. Here is the live link to the mobile version of NEClimbs:

Check it out and if you have issues on your specific phone, please feel free to let me know.

NEClimbs & White Mountain Report On Facebook:
Join us and LIKE us on Facebook. I'll try and post some interesting pix every Thursday and the latest Ice Report in the season, tho certainly not the whole Report. Here's where you can check it out: